German renewables plan a ‘death knell’ for the energy transition, says juwi

Proposals to scale back Germany’s renewable energy policy represent a “death knell” for the country’s energy transition, according to the founders of the developer juwi.

Plans to cap onshore wind and solar to 2.5GW of new capacity each per year emerged yesterday while Sigmar Gabriel, the new energy and the economy minister, has claimed that the country's economy can no longer support its renewable energy subsidy regime.

Juwi's Fred Jung and Matthias Willenbacher called on Gabriel to acknowledge the benefits of the country’s energy transition and condemned the planned reforms.

"The actions outlined in the draft plans to reform the Renewable Energies Act (EEG) are a death knell for the energy transition as a whole," they said in a statement.

“The proposals destroy the confidence of investors, destabilise municipalities, citizens and cooperatives and raise the cost of energy revolution instead of providing relief to current customers."

The pair also warned that the changes could trigger an effective moratorium on new projects in 2014 while investors wait to see what the new policy includes.

The plans include a requirement that projects that are eligible for current policies must be operational by December 2014 and approved by 22 January (today). This would mean any projects not already approved would have to wait until the end of the summer to know what support they will receive. It is unclear if these changes apply to both onshore wind and solar.